Sunday, January 25, 2009

Shikabane Hime Kuro Episode 3

GAINAX... DON'T MESS THIS UP!

Episode 3 was both an escalation in plot and fanservice. This time, the story focuses on Makina's apparent inability to let Keisei go. This leads her to shy away from the most important part of her training, go berserk and attack friendly forces. The curse appeared at the most inopportune time... The sichisei launched an offensive against the Kougon cult by sending a corpse which would wreak some havoc next week. Plus we get some interesting backstory about Itsuki and her priest.

I have two gripes about the development of the story so far. First is Makina's emo shit which dragged on for too long. Yea, Keisei's her one and only, I guess, But in a series spanning 12 or 13 weeks, 3 episodes are too much to give us the impression that she is struggling to cope up with his demise. Ok... he's dead. Move on. Such behavior blinds her to opportunities available, which if comprised only by Ouri, Not Good...

Second is the blatant increase in the amount of sensual angles and the decline in overall animation quality as a whole. My screenshots for this episode reveal more near-nude poses than all of the episodes in the first season combined. I don't know if they're jumping the shark or whatever, but if the ratings aren't that bad yet, there's no reason to butcher a perfectly fine action title. The blatant fanservice also didn't hide the drop in animation quality. Fight scenes weren't as flud as before and mostly rely on quick, lighning-fast motion to make up for the sheer lack of frames. Please, if you have money left thr..... It's GAINAX, nevermind.

Nevertheless, I'll still be here next week to cover the upcoming battle against "The corpse the shichisei let loose"